Experts discuss future of crime and intelligence at Seneca hosted event

Industry professionals from the law enforcement, security, intelligence and education sectors came together on April 27 for the Future of Crime Intelligence & Analysis event, as well as learn about some new tools available to them to do their jobs.

The event was presented in partnership by FutureShield, CAP Index and Flashpoint, and hosted by Seneca Polytechnic at the King City, Ont. campus.

The day began with an opening address from Mark Breen, director of emergency management, monitoring and intelligence at Emergency Management Ontario (EMO), and the keynote speaker, Andrew Kirsch, a former intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) who is now a speaker, author and consultant.

Breen spoke of how to ensure Ontarians are prepared for emergencies, and Kirsch shared his insights and experience on issues of physical, cyber and national security.

“Provincial emergency management going forward is focused on those three pillars — prevention, mitigation preparedness — and that we can all make Ontarians safer if we work to break down those silos and barriers that exist between emergency managers and other sectors such as health, social services and criminal intelligence. And now with EMO established firmly as the one window for Emergency Management Ontario, we invite all the leaders and future leaders in this room to collaborate with us to make that happen,” Breen said in his welcome address to attendees.

Throughout the day, participants were able to attend presentations and case studies from students and faculty from Seneca’s Honours Bachelor of Crime & Intelligence Analysis degree program. Attendees were also invited to sit in on two seminars, one of which discussed the role of crime risk forecasting in a risk assessment program. CAP Index showed the group how to supplement their crime data collection efforts and validate security expenditures.

The other seminar provided an overview of Flashpoint’s intelligence tools which provide access to illicit online communities on the deep and dark web, chats, forums and social media networks to help organizations detect and mitigate digital and physical threats. The session included a case study discussion about a real-world attack on a New York synagogue that Flashpoint helped prevent, and an interactive demonstration of the tools offered.

About 100 participants attended the event.